Playing Hooky
by RainbowMunchies
Summary: Leela and Fry are sent on a mission sans Bender to deliver... what was it again? Fry convinces Leela that playing hooky would be way more fun, and Leela learns that Fry isn't always wrong. FryxLeela Rated T for what might happen later on... *evil grin*
1. Chp 1 What is it we're doing again?

I'm sure everyone starts off like this, but please R&R, I really like hearing about my work (that was a bit egotistical.... //// )

I don't own Futurama in any way shape or form, but it pretty much owns my soul right now. TTwTT

Enjoy!

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Playing Hooky - Chapter 1

It was typical of her life that she would get stuck with _him_.

Yep, typical. Nothing goes right for Leela, mutant cyclops orphan spaceship pilot for the world's most pointless package delivery company. But she digressed.

She really couldn't blame Fry for this. It wasn't his fault that Bender had needed extensive maintenance after their last mission, thanks to having to sacrifice his body for a unexpected emergency landing (which was becoming more and more typical – there was that word again – for Leela and the crew lately), and it most definitely wasn't Fry's fault that her date had gone so badly last night.

The guy couldn't have seemed more perfect – until they got to Elzar's. Leela could have gotten over the extra eyes- conveniently hidden up to that point in the palms of his hands , and even the awful breath wafting past the extra row of teeth, but when he had told her to go easy on the bread she had lost her patience and walked out, leaving him with a large bill and an entire loaf of bread stuffed down his throat .

So, here was Captain Turanga Leela, pissed off and hung-over from a night with Ben and Jerry and her collection of sappy romance movies, and the last thing she wanted to do was spend the day flying around delivering stupid packages to stupid planets with Mr. Stupid himself – Phillip J. Fry.

Seriously, this was the guy who had slept with his own grandma. It didn't get much more idiotic than that.

But, she reminded herself, he was also… really sweet. He could possibly be the sweetest person she knew. He was silly and naïve, but this allowed him to have a heart of gold. His infant-like mentality gave him a genuinely nice personality. Unlike certain cheap, bread horking assholes…

"Um… Leela?" Fry piped up tentatively from the counsel to the left of the captain's seat, "Are you okay?"

Leela looked up at Fry, around the inside of the Planet Express Ship, and then down at her hands clenched on the steering wheel of the ship. "Oh! Uh, yea… sorry. Where are we headed again?"

"Leela, who do you think you're asking? You?!" He spun around twice in his chair and stopped to face her, then made a wavy little hand motion as he continued, "You know I never listen to where we're going! I like to go with the flow."

Leela sighed deeply and rolled her eye, "Fry! Now we have to head all the way back. You know the Prof never answers the phone, and Hermes just won't!"

Hermes had always felt telephones were useless wastes of time. Besides the obvious, there was so much post phone-handling/operating paperwork to process, he was still waiting to get confirmation to answer the phone for his Gramma – and she had died two years ago.

"Oh noooo!" Fry got up quickly and scrambled over to the Captain's chair, "_Please _don't make us go back there Leela!" He fell on his knees in front of her dramatically and clapped his hands together in front of him, "_Please!"_

Oh gosh, he was ridiculous sometimes! Fry stuck out his lips in a little pout and Leela couldn't help but smile – it was just a little smile, but Fry caught it.

"Ha! You don't want to go back either. And don't say it's cuz you don't wanna waste dark matter or something. You know you hate listening to the Professor go on and oooooon," at this he unclasped his hands and began waving them T-rex/old man style in front of him, doing a scarily realistic imitation of the Professor, "Eh? Leela? Who's this Leela?! I'm not talking, you'll never take me alive Wormstrum!!!"

Leela couldn't help it. Bad mood be damned, this was the funniest thing she'd heard all week. She cracked up and laughed loudly into one hand, the other clutching her stomach.

Fry's face lit up with a smile as he knelt on the floor in front of the giggling cyclops. He had made her laugh! This was definitely a step up from usual.

In fact, this flight had been going surprisingly well – or at least the 10 minutes so far. He had been worried that without Bender he'd be bored to death, but now he realized for the first time this might be his big chance!

Fry looked up at her slyly; the smile was still on his lips, "Hey Leela?"

"Hmmm?" Leela replied, regaining her composure, but still smiling, "What?"

"Let's play hooky!" He jumped up and threw his arms above his head, "Screw Planet Express, let's go somewhere fun!"

Leela's nose crinkled as she squinted in confusion, "Hooky?"

"Yea!" Fry replied happily, "I used to play hooky all the time when I worked at Pinucci's in the 20th century. You just get fed up with stupid work and stupid life, and you take a break." His arms came down to his sides and he looked off into space (literally) as he reminisced, "I used to hate life, and then I would just take a day off and not come back from a delivery, and it would be a day full of free pizza and video games."

Leela rolled her eye once again, "You know we can't do that Fry. Just 'taking the day off' without any good reason would get us into big trouble. And besides, it's extremely important that we deliver… what is it we're delivering again?"

"Wow Leela, you really weren't paying attention we're you? You have a bad night or something?"

Nice going stupid, Fry thought the second the words came out.

Leela shot Fry a death glare.

"Uh, I mean," Fry's hands went up in front of his chest protectively, palms towards Leela, "You're really going with the flow today." With this his right hand imitated its earlier wave action to demonstrate his point.

Leela turned from Fry to look out ahead of the ship- she was steering after all. Stars whizzed by. She shifted to the right to avoid an ugly yellow dump-truck-ship and straightened them out. A large gold planet laced with green streaks edged into view in the upper right corner of the window.

If they were turning about, she needed to get the ship ready. She pressed a few buttons on the control panel, and then stopped.

What if Fry was right? Maybe a break was what she needed. She _had_ been spacing out pretty bad that morning. She smiled to herself thinking that she agreed with Fry's earlier statement, it had been silly to rely on him to get any useful info.

She snuck a peek at Fry, who seemed to be quietly cursing himself. He had lowered his arms and was looking down as he shuffled slowly back to his seat. He flopped down in his swivel chair and turned it to stare out the front of the ship.

Great, now she felt bad. He had only been trying – in his own silly, naïve way – to help her feel better.

"Fry?"

Fry's head shot up. He swiveled back around to face Leela.

"Yes? What's up Captain?" He leaned forward a little, holding on to the bottom of his chair and moving his legs back and forth a little like an excited 9-year old.

"Maybe…," she started slowly, "We could…" Fry's eyes widened and he started to smile, "Just for today…" Fry leaned forward out of his seat; holding on to the bottom of the chair and grinning like an idiot.

Leela sighed, mumbling out, "Play hooky."

Fry's hands formed into fists and he threw them over his head in triumph. "Whoooo-hooo!" he hooted into the air before falling face-first to the floor.

"Ow!" Fry yelped as he sat up, rubbing his nose and looking with puppy-dog eyes at a startled Leela.

"Oh Lord," Leela mumbled, giving a dubious smile to a blushing Fry, "What have I gotten myself into now?"

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**A/N**: Oooooh. What _has_ Leela gotten herself into now? Let us see…


	2. Chp 2 Planet Pixel Sounds Perfect

Playing Hooky - Chapter 2

After Leela had agreed to play hooky, Fry had had a little bit of a tough time deciding what they should do.

"What is there to do around here anyway?" Fry asked.

"Well, there's a planet for lots of things nowadays. There's that planet where you can fly, Pegasi I think it's called, and another one where it always feels like a roller coaster, oh and a Fuzzy-Wuzzy brand animal world, which I've been to already," at this she smiled, remembering all the adorableness of the planet. However, she doubted from Fry's tongue sticking out at the mention of it that he really wanted to go there, "There's a new one they just set up where you can eat all the plants and even the animals raw, though why you would want to do that I'm unsure."

Fry just looked at her blankly. Apparently nothing had struck up his interest yet.

"Hmmmmm…," Leela murmured, her eye scrunching up in concentration, "Well we've already been to the nudist beach, the moon and the underwater land of Atlantis. I'm really out of-"

It was then she saw the billboard out the window of the ship for the newest edition. Even she hadn't heard of this place yet. She read it out loud wonderingly.

"Dream World, come test our new Dream Machine on Planet Pixel. Free trial runs for couples; spend the day in the place of your dreams. Hey Fry, that sounds like exactly what we need!"

Fry already seemed excited. He started grinning like an idiot again and bouncing his legs on the balls of his feet.

"Yippee! Good thing we're a couple, we get a free trial," he said to no one in particular, and then settled down quickly, realizing what he had said.

A couple? Yea, he thought, in his dreams.

Fry looked at Leela to see if she'd caught it, preparing for another death glare, but it looked to him like either she didn't care or she hadn't heard him.

He let out a gust of air he realized he had been holding in and turned his chair to stare out the front of the ship. He was so excited he couldn't sit still, and his chair shifted back and forth as he wiggled in his seat.

Leela, however, had indeed heard him and did indeed care (though not in an angry way like Fry was worried about). She had watched Fry turn around in his seat and stare out the front, then brought her hand up to bite her knuckle. A light blush colored her face.

What was wrong with her?

Recently she had been noticing Fry more and more in terms of boyfriend material. She considered that perhaps this was the reason she had been desperately dating guys left and right, and that perhaps that was the catalyst for the increase in awful dates lately. She was confused by the idea that she would be attracted to Fry, and obviously the only way to cure these silly irrational feelings was to find the _real _Mr. Right.

It wasn't that she hated him for anything to do with his personality; it was just that all her years at the Orphanarium had led to daydreams of the "perfect guy," and Fry most definitely did not fit that criteria. He was unreliable, chubby, usually smelly, and had no fashion sense whatsoever. It sounded superficial, but Leela had decided that she wouldn't just settle for a guy unless she knew he was the one, and Fry- until recently- hadn't proved himself to be that in her mind's eye.

She pressed some buttons and gently steered the ship into the designated exit for Planet Pixel.

Billions of stars raced by, along with a few dozen planets, and after a few moments of silence Fry started half humming, half singing to himself.

"Walking on hummm shine ohhh and hummm hum good yea hmmmm…"

Leela covered her mouth with one hand to stop herself from laughing too loudly.

After Fry had used up his memory of the song, which was about two more bars of humming, he turned back to Leela, who was still quietly laughing.

"Hey!" Fry said, looking hurt, "Are you laughing at my singing?"

Fry's bottom lip stuck out as he feigned being offended, "That's not nice! It's not like you can sing any better."

"Oh yea?" Leela retorted, then realized she really had no comeback to follow up with, "…well I can too so shut up!"

"Hey, hey calm down. I finally get you in a good mood and you get all huffy with me! I just wanna be chill today Leela," at this his hands went out in front of him and came apart horizontally, palms down, "You know me, I like to keep the ladies happy."

Leela gave him a WTF stare. Seriously, it was basically WTF written across her face. Her eye twitched a bit in response to the cheesiness of what Fry had just said, and both hands gripped the steering wheel tightly.

"Besides," Fry continued, "Everyone knows you sing better than me anyway, I was just teasing."

Leela saw what Fry had done there, and while it was sweet it was also the master plan of an idiot, and she wasn't taking the bait… completely.

"Fair enough Fry, I'll calm down. But you can't get offended at every little thing, you baby."

"Hey, so now I'm your baby huh?"

"That is nothing close to what I said and you know it…"

But Leela's retort fell on deaf ears. What a great time it was for Fry to have selective hearing, she thought, but decided she better get used to him and his antics for now, seeing as they had a long day of being together to survive.

Finally the turnoff came for the planet. Leela swerved between a saucer-style Ford with a pointy haired, purple, three-armed platypus at the wheel and a vintage orange hover-Mustang with racing stripes (talk about tacky) and tinted windows before taking off at full speed for Planet Pixel. It was a bee-line from the turn-off, and only a few million miles to go.

"Are you enjoying playing hooky yet?" Fry chirped happily in the front.

Leela had to admit that it hadn't been so bad thus far. Of course, it had only been about thirty minutes.

"I honestly don't know Fry, it's only been half an hour. Why don't you ask me once we're in the world of our dreams? I'm sure I'll be enjoying myself then…" Leela trailed off as Planet Pixel approached.

Fry and Leela both were surprised to find that instead of the usual swirls of colors that marked most planets, Planet Pixel sported a veil of blue pixilation. Different shades of blue covered the planet in small blocks, and every now and then one of two would go either white or black, then back to blue.

"Well that explains the name," Leela murmured, and Fry- obviously not getting it – merely nodded and twirled back around to keep looking at the planet.

They closed the gap and saw a neon sign leading them into the landing zone.

"Yippee!" Fry said, "I can't wait to be in my dream world."

Leela smiled as she landed the ship. She was a little apprehensive to see whatever place Fry designated as his "dream world."

It's probably just the moon with half naked girls everywhere and free all-you-can-eat pizza buffets as far as the eye can see, Leela thought.

The ship plunked down, and Leela started to set up the anti-theft system to keep the ship safe while they were gone.

Fry was so excited he raced to the exit, and then remembered what manners he had and waited for Leela at the door.

When Leela was sure the ship was secure and the keys were in her pocket, she headed towards the door.

"Alright Fry," she joked in a cutesy voice usually reserved for Nibbler, "Ready to go for a walk?"

Fry grinned and with a sweep of his arm motioned towards the door.

"Ladies first."

Leela started down the stairs, blushing a little. That was so sweet, she thought before cutting herself off. There was no way she was going to start thinking like that before heading off to some dream planet, who knows what they look at to determine your dream world!

And wouldn't it just be perfect if she and Fry ended up in a world of Fry! She retched slightly at the thought (mostly at the idea of the smell of the place) and diverted her attention to getting down the steps.

Fry was on her heels, happy as a kid entering a candy store.

This was going to be fun.

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**a/n: sorry that NM has happened yet. But don't worry, "Dream Machine" just screams romantic situation no? :D**


	3. Chp 3 WELCOME TO PIXEL PLANET!

Playing Hooky - Chapter 3

The parking lot they were standing in was separated from the rest of Planet Pixel by a large blue dome. It was almost like they had parked in an entirely blue blurnsball stadium.

Signs pointed toward a small ticket gate about 100 or so feet from the ship, and Fry and Leela weaved their way through two dozen or so more vehicles to get there.

"All the blue in this place is giving me a headache," Fry whined, "Why couldn't they have picked a neutral color, like rainbow or something?"

Leela just kept walking.

They reached the ticket gate to find a bored looking scientist behind the window of the ticket booth. His lab coat was a creamy white and square glasses covered most of his face. His hair was a dark shade of sandy blond and he was currently leaning back in his chair staring blankly at a copy of "Nerd Monthly Magazine."

"Uh… hello?" Leela attempted.

"Ah!" the scientist yelped, falling backwards. His magazine went flying as he disappeared behind the booth.

Fry cracked up at this, laughing heartily at the expense of the scientist.

Leela was about to look over and see if he was okay, when the scientist popped up, arms raised and yelled, "WELCOME to PLANET PIXEL!" then finished as normal as can be, "My name is Terry, how can I help you?"

Oh Lord, Leela thought bringing her hand to her forehead, not this guy.

"Look, we don't want theatrics. We just want to try out your dream machine." Leela said, than added quickly, "Free."

"Yea!" Fry chirped, "Take us to the machine. I wanna ride a lion!!!"

Leela turned and looked incredulously at Fry, who just shrugged and smiled. She turned back to the scientist.

"Well well well. Fry and Leela. I haven't seen you all in a while. Especially you Leela." Terry babbled, taking on a slightly normal voice, "The office has been such a bland, sausage-fest of boredom since you left. I took this job on as an extra source of entertainment."

Leela rolled her eye. Only nerds could think working on a Dream Machine and sitting at a ticket booth reading Nerd Monthly would be a great source of entertainment.

"And Fry," Terry continued, "We thought you were dead!"

"Yea," Fry answered nonchalantly, "That happens a lot."

"So you guys are a couple now?"

"Yes!"

"No!"

You can guess who said what.

Leela spun around to look at Fry, who grinned stupidly at her, raising his eyebrows and mouthing the word 'free.' She realized he had her in a trap. If they weren't a couple, then that meant the Dream Machine wasn't free. Damn.

"Yea," Leela said begrudgingly, then brightened up suddenly, in an effort (she told herself) to fool Terry, "That's us, a couple. Right… uhh… Smookums?"

Leela forced a smile and went over to hold Fry's hand. Fry lit up like a star, his smile covering his entire face. He nodded slowly, as if in a trance.

"Alright then, proceed through the turnstile and follow the red path to the Dream Machine building. When you get there, give them this," Terry handed Leela one ticket with the words: "Dream Machine; Planet Pixel" and in huge red letters underneath, "Couple."

"Have fun you two," Terry said, leaning back and going back to his magazine, "Ahhh, young love."

Leela stood there resisting the urge to barf. Fry, on the other hand, was happy as a baby tapir and as excited as Nibbler at dinnertime.

"Come on Leela!" Fry said happily, "Let's go. I can't wait to see this thing."

With that Fry headed through the turnstile still holding onto Leela's hand. The result was an excited Fry walking quickly ahead, dragging a flustered Leela behind.

"Jeez Fry, slow down," Leela whined, picking up the pace to follow.

At the speed Fry went the red path was devoured by them in a few short minutes. The building labeled Dream Machine was easy to spot thanks to the sign, and the frosted blue color of the building reminded Fry of gumdrops, which he relayed happily to an indifferent Leela. Seriously, how old was this guy?

The building was dome shaped and had no real remarkable features besides a large tangle of thick grey wires protruding from the top, which flopped over to the back of the building and out of sight.

The doors were automatic and Fry was the first in, pulling Leela behind. Lucky for Leela, he slowed down and ground to a halt once inside. She took the moment to catch her breath before looking around.

Wow! The building was huge on the inside. The emptiness of the place reminded her of the gym at the orphanarium when she was a kid. Not exactly empty, there was equipment here and there and a desk towards the back, but the largeness of the place made everything seem small and meaningless.

She actually gripped Fry's hand tighter for a moment. She had never liked the gym- would rather stay in her room or sing gibberish songs outside, pretending she was an alien like her parents (who turned out not to be, but she hadn't known that then).

"Jeesh Leela, are you in love with me or something?" Fry whined, "Let up on my hand would ya? You're gonna break it."

Leela quickly released Fry's hand and felt mortified when she felt heat on her cheeks. Fry looked at her for a moment, curious.

"You okay Leela?"

"Yea, I'm fine, I thought you wanted to go," she murmured, looking down at the pale blue tiles.

Fry made a face as if he was beginning to understand, when (to Leela's relief) the nerd at the desk called them back.

This one was female. She wore the same cream lab coat as Terry and sported circular bifocals. Her hair was short, about shoulder length, and sandy brown. Her nametag said 'Gertrude.' She looked almost excited to be there as Terry had; only she had no magazine to while the time away with.

"Ticket?" was all he said.

Leela handed the ticket over. Gertrude inspected it quickly before barely smiling and pointing to the sliding doors to the right of the desk.

"Thataway," she said before returning to staring into space.

Leela shrugged at Fry who shrugged back. They made their way to the doors, for the first time a bit nervous.

This time they entered the doors side by side, and were both happy to see nothing scary, spooky, or weird. It seemed to be a room full of beds. There were several single beds, but also several side by side. All the beds were twin. Above each and every bed were a helmet and a set of wires.

One pair of twin beds supported a normal looking man and woman. They held hands, though they looked unconscious, and smiles touched their lips. Their heads were covered by the helmets, and their temples were coated in suction cups which attached wires to them. The helmets sported a type of visor which covered the eyes.

"Well this doesn't look so bad," Leela said out loud to herself, stepping forward a bit with Fry by her side.

"Of course it isn't bad. This is supposed to be a fun experience."

Leela and Fry jumped at the voice and turned to see yet another scientist step up to them. This one was Asian, same cream coat, and same bifocals as Gertrude. Black hair formed a bowl on his head. Brown slacks protruded from the bottom of his lab coat. The name pinned to the front this time was Harold.

"Let's get started shall we?" Harold said softly, gesturing towards a pair of twin beds.

Fry sauntered over and hopped up on one to sit down.

"Now," Harold said, beginning to hook Fry up to the machine, "It's all very simple. These helmets will overtake the limbic system and cortices, changing what you see and hear and all that into - at least what you will see as – reality. The logistics of the thing aren't important –"

"Good," Fry interrupted, "Cause I wouldn't get it anyway,"

"Uh, yes okay. Anyway," Harold continued, "All you really have to know is that while nothing there can really kill or hurt you here in _this _reality, it _will_ hurt in your dream reality if you think it will."

He pulled the helmet over Fry's head, the visor sliding into place in front of Fry's eyes. He then began applying the suction cups to Fry's temples.

"As long as you imagine it to hurt, it will, because the computer is picking up on the cortices sense of touch, and therefore the feeling of pain."

Harold got the final cup into place and then turned to Leela to finish. Fry began putting his hands on the outside of the helmet, murmuring stupid things like, "Awesome," and "Sweet I'm just like an astronaut!"

"So if you, say, hit your head and forget it isn't really there in the dream reality, your head will hurt. But, it will stop as soon as you realize that the world you are in isn't real. Do you see?"

Leela nodded, getting the idea almost immediately.

Fry nodded, grinning from underneath the helmet. Leela knew he didn't get it, but figured he would find out the hard way. She sat down on the other bed, allowing Harold to begin hooking her up as well.

"Now," Harold said, starting to slide the helmet over Leela's head, "If there is something specific you would like to see, you must say it or think it specifically. The computer will register this and make the request a reality."

"Like a lion?" Fry peeped from his bed.

"Yes. If you specifically imagine a lion, as long as you imagine it won't eat you, you will see the lion in the dream world."

"Whoo-hoo," Fry brayed, wiggling on his bed in excitement.

The visor slid into place and Leela could feel Harold begin to apply the suction cups. The helmet was dark, but some light shown through the bottom. The inside seemed to be composed of a clear plexi-glass with gray wires behind it.

"The starting setting will be based on a combination of your personal desires. We've had some pretty funny ones so far. One couple came in and started off on a football field with cats being punted everywhere."

Harold applied the last of the suction cups to Leela's temples, and then stepped back.

"This first world will be your default. If things get too intense or you want to start over, just shout 'default' and you will return to that area. Other than that, enjoy. Make sure you take turns choosing events, otherwise you'll automatically reset to the default world. You can both choose things, but only one at a time."

Leela and Fry lay back onto the pillows. Without thinking Leela grabbed Fry's hand. She debated for a moment, and then decided to keep a hold on it.

Harold walked over to a switch, and placed his hand on it.

"One last thing, when you're ready to leave just return to default and shout 'end game.' The computer will log you off, and you'll end up here. Have a good time."

With that Harold pulled down on the switch.

Leela saw the dim light coming up from the bottom of the helmet, and then everything was black.

It felt as if she was floating in nothingness. It was an altogether new experience, though it did remind her vaguely of floating in space – the crushing emptiness of it she supposed. Her hand squeezed Fry's, searching for something to hold onto, and to her surprise (and pleasure) Fry squeezed back.

She heard something in the background and realized it was the faint sounds of a dial-up connection.

Whelp, Leela thought, here we go.

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**A/N: Sorry NM happened (once again) but the next part seriously has to have some stuff going on. I just needed to lay down some ground rules. It may be a while (I have midterms this week TTATT) but I swear to all that is awesome that I will post a new chapter by fri (10/16/09) so just hold on til then 3**

**Also, pretty please review! I love all the revviews I've gotten so far (of course I have they were all very positive ^-^ ) and I would love to get even more. Thankies, Rainbowmunchies.**

**BTW, if you think this was too wordy I would love to hear an opinion on that. :D  
**


	4. Chp 4 We Meet the Dream Machine

Playing Hooky - Chapter 4

The darkness continued to engulf them. Leela and Fry took turns squeezing each other's hand to remind themselves they were still there.

Once the feeling of vertigo had subsided, Leela had begun wondering what their world was going to look like. She thought of all her favorite things, and then remembered that they'd be mixed with Fry's thoughts.

I wonder if there will be any data in Fry's brain for the poor machine to look at, she thought, smiling to herself.

"Hey Leela," Fry interrupted her thoughts suddenly, "Is this a date?"

"What?" Leela practically shouted, surprised and flustered by the crazy question out of nowhere, "Fry, if I had known this was a date I wouldn't have agreed to it in any way shape or form! You know that…"

Leela trailed off, realizing she had been unnecessarily mean.

"Oh," Fry sounded hurt, "Silly me…"

"Oh Fry," Leela started apologetically, "It's not that I don't think you're a great guy. It's just…"

"I'm nowhere near good enough for you," Fry finished. He didn't say it in a sarcastic or mean way, but more like it was a fact. Like someone saying snow is cold, he truly believed it.

Leela was about to respond when she was blinded by light. Fry let out a small groan, caught off guard by the sudden brightness.

Leela's arms came up to shield her face, releasing Fry's hand and revealing to her that she no longer wore the helmet or wires. Fry was shielding his face as well and grumbling quietly next to her.

They stayed quiet for a moment, aside from Fry's whining, and allowed their eyes to slowly adjust.

Leela let down her hands and squinted around her. Her eye adjusted bit by bit, and at last she was able to look about at their default world. Fry followed suit, bringing his hands down at about the same time, and looking through barely opened eyes at what lay before them.

When they saw what they had created together, they gasped in unison.

It was more beautiful than anything either of them had ever seen before.

A sea of red and purple flowers coated the ground, reaching out and finally merging with the violet setting sun.

Leela could see the red flowers were bright red daisies, one of her favorite flowers, white in the center and laced with brighter and brighter shades of red before gracing the tips of the petals with a ruby red. The purple flowers were deeply colored violets, starting out as the daisies had with a white center, and working out along the six large petals to a royal purple.

The sun was a sinking orb of light purple, reaching up from an ocean of flowers to meet a cloudless sky of the darkest blue. Faint stars appeared here and there, along with planets of vivid colors.

Trees neither of them had ever seen before peeked up here and there like buoys in the waves, their leaves deep shades of crimson and gold. They shook lightly as a soft breeze began and seemed to jingle softly as their leaves shifted.

The breeze kissed the flowers gently, causing the sea of color to pulsate towards Fry and Leela. Thousands of flowers bowed before them, seeming to worship the two awestruck humans for having devised their humble creation.

"It's…" Leela began, then heard a soft growl to her right, and let out another gasp.

Lying contently among the flowers, not 200 ft away, was an enormous lion. Its golden mane and face was tinted a light shade of purple by the sun. The eyes of the beast were half closed in rapture as the animal enjoyed the warmth of the breeze that enveloped them, and the simple beauty of the setting sun. Its tail twitched lethargically at its side.

There was one other thing Leela noticed - it seemed to be wearing… a saddle.

She looked quickly at Fry, who shrugged dramatically as if to say, "Sorry?"

A smile forced its way to her face. This place was so brilliant – and she and Fry had made this?

She could see how the lion would be from Fry but…

"Fry, what part of this exactly – besides the lion obviously– do you think is your doing?"

"Well," Fry's hands went behind his back as he stared down at his foot, proceeding to twist a flower into the dirt, "I don't know…I guess the planets are mine… and other than that I just really kinda wanted whatever would make you happy… and I knew you liked daisies so…"

He trailed off, blushing deeply.

Leela was speechless. She looked around her at the beauty of the world, at the beautiful red daisies, and finally at Fry.

Fry, who had never wanted anything but her acceptance, had imagined this for her. The gesture was that of a small boy in the schoolyard, offering the last of his chocolate-chip cookie to his first childhood crush. It was childish, it was adorable, and it was genuine.

It was Fry.

Leela stepped towards Fry, who looked up at her advance.

His face revealed a small embarrassed smile, his cheeks still shone a deep crimson, and Leela couldn't hold back any longer. He was just too adorable.

She had never in her life felt so much love for someone as she did for Fry in that moment.

She lunged at Fry, her arms wrapping around his neck, and pressed her body tightly to his in a deep hug.

Fry was flustered, but only momentarily. His arms went around her waist, pulling her to him.

"Oh Fry, this is gorgeous," Leela whispered into his ear. "Even the lion!"

Fry smiled so wide his face was about to split. She liked the lion! Jackpot.

"I have never been this happy in my life," Leela finished, nestling her face into Fry's neck.

Fry's smile dwindled, ending in a content grin. His eyes narrowed happily as he set his chin on Leela's back.

They stood there like that a moment. Leela's face on Fry's shoulder and Fry's chin resting on Leela's back.

Fry broke the silence.

"Leela?"

Leela pulled back, gazing into Fry's eyes with her own. He looked completely serious, so she decided to listen carefully.

"I want you to know that of all the things that have happened in my life, this is the most happy I have ever felt too."

The awful articulation brought Leela back for a moment. Was she thinking straight? Did she love Fry now or what? What did this mean? So many questions at once!

She decided to work through them one at a time.

She stepped back from Fry, a thoughtful look on her face. She sat down in the flowers, which were soft as velvet to the touch. The breeze played gently with her hair as she gazed at the setting sun.

Fry looked concerned for a moment, and then sat down beside Leela, taking her hand in his own. She let him, it would have been silly not to. At that moment, she was infatuated with him.

Question one. Was she thinking straight?

Yes, she had never been surer of her feelings in her life. She had avoided becoming romantically involved with Fry because of his negatives.

She was now ashamed to admit to herself that one of the few times she had allowed herself to be shallow, it had come back to bite her in the ass.

The negatives seemed nothing now compared to his positives, which she had always pushed to the back of her mind. This… masterpiece they were now sitting in had broken the dam, allowing a flood of Fry's amazing qualities to rush into her head and wash out any doubt.

He was gentle, sweet, simple, kind, naïve, genuine, funny, and best of all he was smitten with her. He would do anything for her; follow her to the ends of the galaxy if he had to.

Leela thought vaguely of the bee sting that had nearly killed her. Fry hadn't given up on her, even when the doctors had chalked her up as a vegetable. For two weeks he had sat by her side, helping her to keep her sanity.

She looked over at Fry, who was looking over at the lion in wonder.

Did she love him?

Yes, without a doubt. He was what she had been looking for in those other men – caring, loving, and kind. She loved him, and it was about damn time she had realized it.

Finally, what did this mean?

She turned to Fry and shook his hand with her own to take his attention from the lion – which was now cleaning himself with a tongue the size of Leela's head.

Fry whirled around to look at her, a grin appearing instantly on his face. He looked so happy that it seemed like his head was about to pop off.

Leela stood up, pulling Fry up with her.

"Fry." Leela said, looking him dead in the eye.

"Yes Leela?"

"I changed my mind."

At this Fry looked nervous, obviously afraid Leela was about to drop his hand and tell him to piss off.

"About what?"

Leela leaned in and caught Fry's lips with her own. He responded immediately, wrapping his free arm around her waist and pulling her in closer.

Their eyes closed. The darkness brought more pleasure as sense of touch was heightened by lack of sight.

Their lips melded, and Fry felt like he was about to melt. Leela looped her arms back around his neck, her fingers lacing through the red hair on the back of Fry's head. She pulled him in closer, as close as she could.

Lips moving together, pleasure rippling through them both a million miles a minute.

And all at once they broke in unison, gasping for air.

Their eyes opened slowly

"About today," Leela spoke. Fry could hear her catching her breath.

"This _is _a date."

She smiled deeply at him with her lips together. Her eye slowly closed halfway in a look of contented ease. Her fingers played with Fry's hair, enjoying the soft texture.

Fry's face, however, radiated confusion. He seemed to give a lot of thought to what Leela had said before speaking.

"So then… we're…"

"Pretty much a couple," Leela finished, continuing to smile happily.

"Well then," Fry said, "I guess I better not screw it up then."

Leela rolled her eye, still smiling.

"Welcome to your dream date," Fry announced happily, "Next stop, the S.S. Loveboat!"

With that, Leela saw Fry's eyes shut in concentration.

She wondered what the heck he was doing, when all at once the world around them changed.

Colors appeared and formed shapes around them, becoming clearer as the pieces fell into place.

When the images finally became sharp and visible, Leela was astounded.

It was the second most beautiful place she had ever seen.

* * *

**A/N: Omigoodness! I promised you Friday, and its here on Wednesday! Boo-yah! :D**

**This took a long time, lol but whenever I sit down and say, "Okay, just 5 minutes on the story and then read Chp 7 for Biology," it always ends up like this... a new chapter... and no Biology read...  
**

**So on that note, enjoy! And please review (I will stop saying it after this, so PLEASE don't get annoyed! lol) cuz I really worked hard on this chapter especially and would 3 times a million to know what you think. Good or Bad!!! :3  
**


	5. Chp 5 The LoveBoat

Playing Hooky - Chapter 5

Leela had never been on a 20th-century style boat before, but she definitely got the feeling this wouldn't have been considered "normal" by any standards.

What had materialized before her was unlike anything she'd ever seen.

Beneath their feet glass as clear as the moonlit sky showed fluorescent creatures drifting along in a gentle tide.

Jellyfish the size of dolphins shone a deep blue and pulsated through the water. The spots on their backs blazed in the darkness of the sea and lit up the glass beneath the two.

A whale rolled by, and gigantic spots of fluorescent light reflected streams of rainbow colors along the roof of the ship. The beast out a soft moan, and Leela felt as though the sound was that of a lover soon to be with his soul mate- calling out to her not to worry, for he was hurrying to be with her again.

Hundreds of other smaller fish wiggled in schools, their glow projecting streaks of colors. Leela saw purples, golds, silvers, greens, blues, pinks, and dozens of other colors permeate the darkness of the water.

"You like it?" Fry asked, stepping towards a table. He released one of Leela's hands and pulled the other along gently behind him.

"It's magnificent…" she breathed, looking down one last time to see a shimmering narwhal flit by. Its horn was a swirl of shining colors that made Leela's head spin. She followed Fry's lead and proceeded towards one of several tables in the gorgeous ballroom.

They sat at a circular table sized for couples. The tablecloth was a pure white and soft yet strong to the touch. A small crystal vase stood erect in the center with one of each of the flowers from their previous world. The stems of the violet and daisy had been twisted together in union and the buds touched gently as they leaned over the edge of the vase.

The lion had managed to make it to the ship with them and had sat down a little ways off. When it saw them take their seats, it sauntered over and lethargically sat, placing its chin on the table. Its eyes looked questioningly at Fry.

Leela quickly leaned away from the lion before remembering it wasn't real. She reached forward and petted it tentatively, letting out an, "Awwwww," as the big cat closed its eyes and began to purr like a motorboat. Her eye showed sincere love for the creature, and Fry smiled gently thinking of how lucky he was to have a genuinely loving person to himself.

"Alright you," Fry said to the lion after a minute more of this, "I didn't work hard to imagine you that lion house for nothing."

The lion sat up to take its head off the table, pulled its gargantuan body back, and hung its head dejectedly. It turned a 180 and marched slowly towards the corner of the room where a bright red doghouse sat.

As he marched, swarms of small glowing fish gathered at his paws, eager to nibble at what they saw through the glass. The glow lit up the underside of the lion and his golden fur reflected hues of blues and reds.

The structure situated in the far corner was obviously sized for a dog and not a lion; but- as if to contest this- a board with the words, "Lion House," crudely etched on had been nailed in the customary position of dog name.

The lion reached the house, circled it twice-dozens of fish gathering and dispersing at his every step- and then stopped in front of the comparatively dwarfed doorway to give Fry a look of pure sorrow.

Fry returned this with a stern look. The feline heaved a sigh, circled the house once more, and managed to shove its entire head inside the door before giving up and plopping the rest of its body down outside the lodgings.

Fry turned back to Leela happily; the hard look wiped completely from his face.

"Leela," he started, reaching over the table and taking her hands in his own, "I love you so much, and I've wanted to show you since I met you. Thank you for this chance."

He looked down at their hands, embarrassed at what he had just said.

Leela's eye misted up. A smile grew on her lips. She stared quietly at Fry for a moment, and then noticed someone approaching.

The mystery man looked very spiffy in a neatly pressed suit that screamed _restaurant employee_. His hair was slicked back impressively and his mustache was twirled to the finest degree.

In his hands he held a violin, and having approached the table he raised the instrument to his shoulder to play. The tune started slow but quickly picked up pace. Leela listened hard, screwing up her eye in concentration, but didn't recognize the song.

Fry saw her perplexed look and explained, "It's the Love Cats by the Cure. It reminds me of you because… well you'd have to hear the words to understand, but I can't remember them right now."

Fry's eyes looked through Leela for a moment. She wondered for a moment just what Fry meant, but decided against asking him. There was something she needed to make sure Fry knew before she could feel okay about this.

"I want you to know that I'm sorry Fry."

Fry's eyes came into focused. He looked hard at Leela for a moment, trying to decide how to react. He decided on playing the idiot card – his deck was full of them.

One eyebrow rose in question, the other lowered for effect. Fry's lips formed a half-smile at the humor in the confusing apology.

"For what?" he practically snorted.

"For… well for never giving you a chance," Leela's eye traveled down to their hands, where the ball of her thumb rubbed the inside of Fry's own. "It took something ridiculous like this to knock some sense into me…"

She brought their hands together and up to sit just before her lips. Her eye shut slowly.

"I was stupid, and I want you to know that you don't have to impress me to make me love you. I've realized how foolish I've been," she brought her forehead forward and rested it on Fry's hands, "I just want you now."

"This is gorgeous- and I really and truly love it- but just know that no theatrics are needed. I'm absolutely crazy for you now."

She raised her forehead and opened her eye. A sly grin came to her face.

"And if you ever try to leave me," Fry's hand came up to her lips, "You better watch out!"

With that she bit Fry playfully on the hand.

Fry- taken off the little guard he had- let out a startled yelp. Leela laughed as he gently yanked his hand away and began rubbing it with his good appendage. The sound of the lion growling gleefully in appreciation overtook the violin for a long moment.

"Hush you!" Fry squawked, pointlessly pointing at the Lion House in embarrassment. His cheeks were growing pinker by the second.

Leela stood up and walked quickly around the table to sit in Fry's lap. Fry's arms wrapped securely around her waist, but a small pout came to his lips.

"I worked hard to think up all of this, and you bite me. Hmph."

He turned his head from a smirking Leela.

Leela brought her hand to Fry's cheek in an effort to turn him back towards her.

"Come on Fry," she laughed, her other hand hung itself over his free shoulder, "Don't be a baby, Baby."

"Oh you say that, but you don't even apologize."

Fry's face was still turned away but Leela could see the start of a smile. She grinned smugly. "Well give me the hand then."

One hand detached itself from Leela's back and rose up in from of them. Leela took Fry's hand in her own. Fry turned his face back to look at her.

Leela slowly inspected the invisible wound. One hand deftly turned the limb this way and that as the other ran its fingers over each digit. Fry's eyes lit up as Leela's touches tickled the nerves in his hand. He whimpered softly and she smiled at the silly sound.

Her fingers worked over the "wounded" spot, barely touching the skin and leaving trails of butterfly kisses along Fry's hand.

Leela's eye looked up to meet Fry's. She brought the hand to her lips. Fry let out a gasp as she bit it once more, than kissed it gently. The kiss sent a strange sensation up Fry's arm, and as he giggled- his eyes shutting in bliss.

Leela took the opportunity to shift her weight, bringing her face closer to Fry's, and placing his hand firmly on her breast. Fry's eyes snapped open at the new texture under his hand only to see Leela not an inch away. A soft grin overtook his surprised face.

They sat quietly that way for a moment, one eye looking into two and vice-versa. Fry's hand rested on Leela's breast and he could feel her heart beating quickly. His own heart was going about a 1000 mph, and a smile slowly grew on his face as he realized their hearts were racing.

"What's so funny?" Leela whispered.

"I was just thinking," Fry said slowly, bringing his free hand up to play with Leela's ponytail, "That our hearts are racing, and I want mine to win."

A grin lit up his face at the ridiculous suggestion. Leela frowned, not getting it. When she finally realized what Fry was getting at, she rolled her eye and brought one hand up to softly slap his shoulder.

"Ouch," Fry whined, "Someone is rather violent towards me today."

The violinist had made a rather timely disappearance.

"Oh dear," Leela sympathized sarcastically, an evil grin appearing on her face, "How shall I apologize this time?"

Fry let a devious grin overtake his face. His eyes narrowed slightly. He had a pretty good idea about what form he'd like his apology in…

* * *

**A/N: Oh yes, its about to get good. *kehkehkeh***

**Uhhhh prolly no updates for a few days. Lots of fun college stuff to do this week TT^TT so PLEASE review so I will have the strength of your love to ride back on (like waves... ^^;) when I return. :D**

**I would really like to know, seriously, how you feel about this chapter. I worked really hard on this one. Romance doesn't come easily to me like it does to some. **

**Toodles! Be back within the week - PROMISE! X////X RainbowMunchies  
**


	6. Chp 6 The Zoo :D

Playing Hooky - Chapter 6

"Well?" Leela said, purposefully leaning forward on Fry's lap.

Fry felt pleasure rip through him and tried unsuccessfully to stifle a gasp.

Leela giggled (no, seriously) and Fry blushed at the sound. He had never heard her giggle before, and it was a musical tune to his ears. The vibrato of the happy noise tickled his brain, bum rushing him with pure joy.

Fry gave Leela's chest another abrupt squeeze before leaning in again. The hand at her ponytail pulled her face in gently towards him, and she willingly came.

Lips parted upon meeting and a low moan escaped Leela's mouth. The resonance bounced between their lips, amplifying the feeling of pleasure.

Leela's face turned as her hand came up to cup Fry's cheek. She leaned in and the pressure increased on Fry's groin, forcing him to pull her face in closer.

It felt like they were merging together. The kiss became more passionate and wild with each ragged breath.

Leela had never felt this much pleasure; had never truly wanted to be one with someone as she did with Fry.

Her head swirled with memories of love for his adorable face; of his sweet attempts at the holophone for her; of the diligent search for the perfect words to express his love.

Her hands slid down his face, down his shoulders, to rest on his chest. She softly pushed him back, breaking the kiss with a sound of weak protest from Fry.

Fry's hands dropped down to rest on Leela's hips, and her legs parted to straddle both Fry and the chair. She sat on his lap, legs spread, facing him.

Leela stared Fry down for a moment, catching her breath. He let her breathe for a moment, and then gently leaned forward against her restraining hands.

She gave in easily and he levitated forward to lay kisses on her neck. He started at the base of her jaw, working his way slowly along her windpipe, and then laid into the contours of her neck.

"Fry," Leela said, after a moment of enjoying the delicious feeling. Consciousness was slowly leaking through the pleasure.

"Mmmmm?" He replied, continuing to suck at the base of her neck. He was getting close to the top of her shirt, and Leela knew she needed to do this now, or she would lose herself.

"I think…" she struggled to hold onto her voice as Fry's hands slid under her tank top to massage her naked waist, "Fry I think we should continue… continue…"

The kisses became stronger and hungrier as Leela spoke. One hand slid up her bare back, fingers pressing hard against the flesh. She felt ecstasy blaze through her. The final words came out in a gasping whisper.

"Our… date."

Fry stopped, but Leela was sure she heard a huff.

"Oh come on," she said, regaining composure, "Do you really just want to sit around a place this beautiful and make out all day?"

Fry looked at her as if that was exactly what he had been planning on.

"Not _just _make out…"

Well, _pretty much_ what he'd been planning on.

Leela ignored the comment.

"We're on a date remember? We can make out all the time when we get home if you want."

"But I wanna do it now," he whined.

"Now come on. You have a perfectly good lion laying over there that you've never even ridden!" Leela said sternly, one arm sweeping away from Fry's chest to wave an open hand at a gloomy lion butt.

The lion growled sadly from inside his house.

Fry sighed slowly, pulling his hands out slowly from under Leela's shirt. This was a losing battle, even he could see that.

"Okay," Fry said, his hands folding behind his head. Leela's hands settled on his shoulders as she continued to straddle him. "Your turn. What do you want to do?"

Leela was surprised at this. For a moment she realized they were in the same predicament as earlier in the day.

Only this time the alternative was much more pleasant than delivering packages.

But she couldn't flake out after making such a big deal out of the whole date thing, so she tried to think of something they could do together.

"How about… we go to the zoo?"

Fry gave her a look, but quickly shut his eyes and concentrated.

Everything seemed to fall out from under them.

Leela leaned forward and hugged Fry tight as vertigo shot through her. Her eye clamped shut, so she did not see the world once again blur and shift around them.

"S'okay," Fry murmured into her ear after a few moments. His arms had moved to hug her to him, and his hands interlaced to tether her as she slowly sat up.

Fry may be an idiot, Leela instantly thought, but his imagination is astounding.

Maybe that was what having the mindset of a sexually driven eight year old did to a person- boosted their imagination into the heavens- because Fry was blowing Leela out of the water with his creations in this place.

The zoo, of course, was unlike anything Leela had seen before.

The animals she could see from where they were positioned seemed like they were dreamt up by psychedelic ADD children. Fur came in all different shades of color, texture and pattern. The cages were bright fluorescent colors, lighting up the deep night that surrounded everything, pooling into shadows at the edges of the walls of colored illumination.

Leela was so busy gawking at the strange creatures she didn't realize the chair beneath them had vanished. They now sat atop the lion, whose saddle was surprisingly large, and they marched along at a slow pace.

It held them both comfortably and Leela turned from straddling Fry, whipping her legs around with elegant power, and took the customary pose atop the saddle, legs gripping either side. The lion, however, turned out to have a rather broad back and the saddle barely shifted as he sauntered along.

Leela decided to relax, leaning back into Fry, his arms wrapping around her just under her breasts. His chin settled comfortably on top of her head and she heard him heave a contented sigh.

Leela looked up for a moment – an old habit she had never grown out of. Whenever she was somewhere new as a child, she would always look at the planets around her and wonder if her parents were there. Of course she could have just looked down at her feet, she knew that now, but somehow the habit had stuck with her.

The stars above them were a bit crude, as Fry's imagination had seemed to alter them a tad. They stood against the pitch black sky like paper cut-out five-point stars stuck in tar. Leela smiled. It was nice to see something like this, something childish, that reminded her Fry really did make this place up just for her. With all the magical things, she had been beginning to doubt Fry had really done all this. The "stars" blinked on and off every once in a while, but otherwise remained stuck in the dark expanse.

"Fry," Leela said.

"Hmmm?" Fry's nonchalant reply tickled the top of Leela's head.

"I love you."

Leela could feel Fry smile a top her head. She repositioned herself so her face was parallel with Fry's, and planted a loving kiss on his cheek.

The grin on his face was priceless, and Leela was happy to have been the one to put it there. She looked down at the lion's head, or more specifically at the bushy golden mane under which his head hid.

"Uh… whoa boy?"

The lion turned his massive head to give her a look of indifferent annoyance, but stopped nonetheless.

Leela slid down, pulling Fry by the hand along with her.

"C'mon Fry, I want to walk around and look at all the animals you thought up."

"Look Leela," Fry said, his eyes narrowing comically, "Do you want to ride the lion or not? Cause you're really giving him mixed signals here."

"When you say lion, what exactly are you referring to?" Leela responded slyly. She knew better than anyone why Fry would want to be up on that lion right now and it wasn't to spare its nonexistant feelings.

Fry blushed, but said nothing.

"Besides, I'm sure big boy here'll be happy to wander about the zoo on his own," Leela reached up and patted the big cat's side, evoking a great purr, "Wouldn't you like that you big cutie?"

The feline rolled its eyes, but started off, its butt twitching back and forth as it meandered away.

Once they had concluded they were going to look around at all the animals, Fry had gotten excited. He couldn't wait to show Leela all his creations.

"This way Leela!" he said excitedly, pulling her hand along like a child might pull their mother towards a particularly neat attraction.

Leela's heart overflowed with love for her adorable fool as they headed deeper into the zoo.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry NM happened but I wanted to update and try out some more romance stuff. I had bio lab today so I'm uber tired. TT3TT**

**I hope you enjoyed, and as always, REVIEW! :D**

**As of 11/4/2009: I regret to have to tell you all this, but for the next fortnight or so I will be somewhat inactive. After receiving certain grades today, I have made it my new priority to work first and foremost on my studies. And so, while it pains me to say this, Playing Hooky will be updated _extremely_ slowly, if at all, for the next few weeks. However, I can't wait to come back full throttle and will be doing my best to prepare stories to bounce back strong with! Oh, and I will still be paying attention to FF dot net, so pretty plz continue giving reviews! They will do more than you know for me over the next three long weeks.**

**See you in December!**


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